Terror plot foiled
17 arrests Sweep nets explosive materials as part of international investigation
STEWART BELL and KELLY PATRICK, CanWest News Service
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A Canadian counterterrorism investigation that led to the arrests of 17 people accused of plotting bombings in Ontario is linked to probes in a half-dozen countries.
Well before police tactical teams began their sweeps around Toronto on Friday, at least 18 related arrests had already taken place in Canada, the United States, Britain, Bosnia, Denmark, Sweden and Bangladesh.
The six-month RCMP investigation, called Project OSage, is one of several overlapping probes that include an FBI case called Operation Northern Exposure and a British probe known as Operation Mazhar.
At a news conference yesterday, the RCMP announced terrorism charges had been laid against a dozen Toronto-area men and five teens under the age of 18. The group "took steps to acquire components necessary to create explosive devices" including three tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, police said.
Ammonium nitrate fertilizer is commonly used in terrorist bombs, police said.
By comparison, the truck bomb used to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995, killing 168 people, contained a single tonne of ammonium nitrate.
"It was their intent to use it for a terrorist attack," said RCMP assistant commissioner Mike McDonell.
"This group posed a real threat. It had the capacity and intent to carry out these attacks."
Police declined to identify the intended targets because the investigation is continuing, but said they were all in southern Ontario and did not include the Toronto transit system, as some news media had reported.
As senior RCMP and Canadian Security Intelligence Service officials spoke to reporters, some of the evidence seized during police raids was displayed on a table guarded by police officers.
The materials included a bag of ammonium nitrate, a pistol and ammunition clip, computer hard drive, and what appeared to be a cellphone-activated electronic detonator hidden inside a small black fishing tackle box.
The accused made brief court appearances in Brampton, north of Toronto, yesterday.
They face charges of participating in the acts of a terrorist group, including training and recruitment; firearms and explosives offences for the purposes of terrorism and providing property for terrorist purposes.
The accused men are mostly in their teens and 20s. They include men of Somali, Egyptian, Jamaican and Trinidadian origin. All are residents of Canada and "for the most part" are Canadian citizens, police said.
Charged are: Fahim Ahmad, 21, Zakaria Amara, 20, Asad Ansari, 21, Shareef Abdelhaleen, 30, Qayyum Abdul Jamal, 43, Mohammed Dirie, 22, Yasim Abdi Mohamed, 24, Jahmaal James, 23, Amin Mohamed Durrani, 19, Steven Vikash Chand, 25, and Ahmad Mustafa Ghany, 21. A 12th man and five youths can't be named.
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=186caa1f-9d16-499e-b8c9-a34beac00bd7&k=43137#
une 3, 2006 -- WMR can report that a Mayflower Hotel staffer has confirmed that First Lady Laura Bush spent at least one night this past week at the hotel, which is four blocks north of the White House. Mrs. Bush reportedly moved out of the White House after a confrontation with President Bush over his on-going affair with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The Mayflower's official position on the story is that they can "neither confirm nor deny" the identities of their guests. Because it's penchant for security and secrecy is well known to the Secret Service, the Mayflower has become a reliable hotel for U.S. and international VIPs.
Some Washington observers believe that the recent flare up between Laura Bush and the president stems from the fact that her poll numbers are twice as favorable as her husband's (60 percent to 29 percent). Laura Bush's recent solo missions to New Orleans, Colorado, and an AIDS conference at the United Nations represent a virtual declaration of independence from the most unpopular president in U.S. history. "She's [Laura's] taking a page right out of Hillary's book," said one Washington pundit. Rice, on the other hand, has been very close and loyal to Bush since she signed on as his chief foreign policy adviser in 2000. WMR has been told of intimate encounters between Mr. Bush and Rice on trips to New York City (multiple occasions) and New Orleans following Katrina.
http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/
17 arrests Sweep nets explosive materials as part of international investigation
STEWART BELL and KELLY PATRICK, CanWest News Service
il
Font:
A Canadian counterterrorism investigation that led to the arrests of 17 people accused of plotting bombings in Ontario is linked to probes in a half-dozen countries.
Well before police tactical teams began their sweeps around Toronto on Friday, at least 18 related arrests had already taken place in Canada, the United States, Britain, Bosnia, Denmark, Sweden and Bangladesh.
The six-month RCMP investigation, called Project OSage, is one of several overlapping probes that include an FBI case called Operation Northern Exposure and a British probe known as Operation Mazhar.
At a news conference yesterday, the RCMP announced terrorism charges had been laid against a dozen Toronto-area men and five teens under the age of 18. The group "took steps to acquire components necessary to create explosive devices" including three tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, police said.
Ammonium nitrate fertilizer is commonly used in terrorist bombs, police said.
By comparison, the truck bomb used to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995, killing 168 people, contained a single tonne of ammonium nitrate.
"It was their intent to use it for a terrorist attack," said RCMP assistant commissioner Mike McDonell.
"This group posed a real threat. It had the capacity and intent to carry out these attacks."
Police declined to identify the intended targets because the investigation is continuing, but said they were all in southern Ontario and did not include the Toronto transit system, as some news media had reported.
As senior RCMP and Canadian Security Intelligence Service officials spoke to reporters, some of the evidence seized during police raids was displayed on a table guarded by police officers.
The materials included a bag of ammonium nitrate, a pistol and ammunition clip, computer hard drive, and what appeared to be a cellphone-activated electronic detonator hidden inside a small black fishing tackle box.
The accused made brief court appearances in Brampton, north of Toronto, yesterday.
They face charges of participating in the acts of a terrorist group, including training and recruitment; firearms and explosives offences for the purposes of terrorism and providing property for terrorist purposes.
The accused men are mostly in their teens and 20s. They include men of Somali, Egyptian, Jamaican and Trinidadian origin. All are residents of Canada and "for the most part" are Canadian citizens, police said.
Charged are: Fahim Ahmad, 21, Zakaria Amara, 20, Asad Ansari, 21, Shareef Abdelhaleen, 30, Qayyum Abdul Jamal, 43, Mohammed Dirie, 22, Yasim Abdi Mohamed, 24, Jahmaal James, 23, Amin Mohamed Durrani, 19, Steven Vikash Chand, 25, and Ahmad Mustafa Ghany, 21. A 12th man and five youths can't be named.
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=186caa1f-9d16-499e-b8c9-a34beac00bd7&k=43137#
une 3, 2006 -- WMR can report that a Mayflower Hotel staffer has confirmed that First Lady Laura Bush spent at least one night this past week at the hotel, which is four blocks north of the White House. Mrs. Bush reportedly moved out of the White House after a confrontation with President Bush over his on-going affair with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The Mayflower's official position on the story is that they can "neither confirm nor deny" the identities of their guests. Because it's penchant for security and secrecy is well known to the Secret Service, the Mayflower has become a reliable hotel for U.S. and international VIPs.
Some Washington observers believe that the recent flare up between Laura Bush and the president stems from the fact that her poll numbers are twice as favorable as her husband's (60 percent to 29 percent). Laura Bush's recent solo missions to New Orleans, Colorado, and an AIDS conference at the United Nations represent a virtual declaration of independence from the most unpopular president in U.S. history. "She's [Laura's] taking a page right out of Hillary's book," said one Washington pundit. Rice, on the other hand, has been very close and loyal to Bush since she signed on as his chief foreign policy adviser in 2000. WMR has been told of intimate encounters between Mr. Bush and Rice on trips to New York City (multiple occasions) and New Orleans following Katrina.
http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/
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